Thomas wants to come back leaner and faster

Joston Thomas knows that first-hand. The forward for the Hawaii basketball team was walking through downtown Honolulu one evening recently when a group of people approached and asked him why he wasn’t coming back to play for the Warriors.

“I don’t know where that came from,” he said with a laugh.

For the record, Thomas said he is returning for his junior season with the Warriors – and his plan is to come back leaner and faster.

“Actually I’m going to try to cut about 15 pounds just to be a little bit quicker,” said Thomas, who currently weighs around 250. “But I’m going to still try to stay at the same strength.”

Thomas averaged 9.7 points and 5.1 rebounds per game as a sophomore this past season – his first season of NCAA Division I basketball. His season had ups and downs – he reached double-figure points in 17 games, but also went through a stretch where he scored four total points in three games.

“I feel like this year was the hardest because this was the rebuild,” he said. “We had a lot of new faces and we weren’t able to come in and pick from the start how to play with each other. But I still feel like we meshed well together and I think we’re going to do it even more so this year, and we’ll come back next season ready to go.”

For his part, Thomas said he plans to stay in Hawaii through the summer so that he can train with the UH strength and conditioning program.

IMHO, i think his shooting form is fine (changing his form at this point in his career may mess it up for a year or more while he’s trying to adjust)…all he needs at this point is to go out every day with Bo Barnes and shoot and shoot and shoot…..

dennis is known for ballhandling skills…true. but, his expertise is basketball in general. he knows how to teach shooting form. especiallh from the line. if i am not mistaken dennis shot 95% from the stripe during his high school career.

Coach Dennis is an excellent shooting clinician ,and would be a boon to the men’s program if he can give the guys who need the help, assistance during the blackout period where there is no coaching by the coaching staff. I am sure he would go to Manoa and help the boys,some of the guys staying for the summer would also benefit.